Visiting The Thoughts Of Yet One More Person

Got together with another short chubby guitarist last night and thought about what fun it would be to play in bars again, which made me think of what kinda songs a short chubby duo would perform for $$$, which made me think of the geezingslaw brothers. One album in particular that missed all the charts but kept us in stitches had a song called "Chubby, Please Take Your Love To Town" (with lines like "chubby, I didn't know you had a bald spot under there"). Anyone know where to find this classic?

A few of us had gathered on the third floor above Tipitina's to ride out the storm...

It was a long night, with the black shutters bangin and the windows blowin in, but When we saw the sun come out Tuesday mornin, some of em started a little survivor's party....

There were men that should've known better, braggin about how it would take more than a "little gal named Katrina" to run em offa their precious Quarter.....

That was when the levee broke and swept them all away; Ponchartrain turned our city into Venice; turned Canal Street into the real thing, turned Bourbon St into Sewage St and turned the third floor of Tipitina's into sea level....

I've always known it, but it sure is a reminder.......

Jus' when you think you're back in the boat, the shark grabs onto your foot....

Jus' when you think you've left that ol Devil far behind, he sneaks up and grabs you by the, um...... neck.... Jus' when you're outta the woods the tiger catches up to you......

ah, y'all know what I mean....

Lord, Amighty, But That lucky ol sun don't do nuthin at all but roll round Heaven all day; the rest of us got some awful work to do............

Send us some music.....

Send us Some Prayers....

Rev Buckman (beukema@optonline.net)
See more of my writing at:
http://www.mytown.ca/beukema/
http://www.mytown.ca/outsiders/beukema/

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Hank - thanks. I've been unable to think at all. You helped me start to get centered. Stole your words & posted them in my blog - I've been absolutely speechless since Pat Robertson suggested our government should murder foreign leaders who disagree with our foreign policy. I knew some of these folks only pretended to be Christian to collect $$$, but, man, to be so obvious about it has left me depressed. And then, Katrina on top of that. Thanks for helping me start get a clear picture of all the mud. -Rich

US people getting fatter, fast

About two-thirds of US adults are obese or overweight
Americans are getting fatter at a rate never seen before, a report shows.

In the past year, the adult obesity rate rose in 48 of America's states, and nationally from 23.7% to 24.5%, Trust for America's Health found.

In 10 states, over a quarter of adults are now obese, despite campaigns alerting people to the dangers of over-eating.

Mississippi, famous for its calorific mud pie, ranked the highest, followed by Alabama and West Virginia.

Crisis point

The non-profit organisation said the situation had reached crisis point and current policies were failing.

:::stolen from BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4183086.stm

Tax policies are failing, defense policies are failing, education policies are failing, religious policies are failing (I've been too mad to post ever since Pat Robertson, on the 700 Club, said we should "take out" the President of Venezuela, one of the bravest world leaders currently living. Just before he said "take out" he used the word "assasinate", though he denies the two were related. Christian leaders calling for murder shows a real weakness in spiritual policy), etc etc. I'm still to angry to say anything coherent. I should avoid the news and listen to music. Been loving the Klazz Brothers recently - Classic Meets Cuba.

Tonight's study went really well. The entire chapter was great - but that verse sure put a ribbon on the life of Abraham. That small peek we get to see from the viewpoint of God from time to time is always well worth it.

The most intriguing thing we discussed was something everyone in attendance has been feeling more and more - the closer one gets to understanding grace, the further one feels from the traditional Sunday meeting place.

First I have to say you'll never know what you're going to find at http://www.theonion.com - Almost as funny as hearing Tiny Tim sing Hey Jude (cha-cha-cha).

Anyway, I was so caught up in rambling on and on in answer to an e-mail yesterday I forgot to celebrate the first day of school.

The very first words I heard out of one of my students yesterday morning was "I can't wait till Friday!" (GW). Great way to start the year - having students sound like factory workers!

So, today is the second day. Both days have been exciting & have kept me hopping. No dull moments, which means, of course, I'm not bored. It also means that the days go by super fast. At my age I don't want the days to go by this fast!

Have a new male on campus!!! And no, he's not a janitor; but yes, he is a coach. I'm working with him every afternoon & he's a blast to be around. His philosophy is very similar to mine - let's have fun and the kids will have fun!!! Makes the hour go by fast, which I am establishing a love/hate relationship with. I love it because I'm enjoying it. Kinda hating (not really hating - too strong a word - probably more like worrying) the fact that the faster each day goes by the sooner I'm no longer here having fun!!!

Felt my age this morning. Yesterday I was on the floor doing a crab walk with 100+ kids, woke up this morning with all kinds of aches in muscles I haven't used all summer =:-)

So, all is well in my world except for the headlines. Guess I should stick to reading the Onion and stay away from serious news sources!

"You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite/You call yourself a patriot, well I think you're full of s---."

A friendly person e-mailed me after reading my review yesterday to ask my opinion on the above. Yes, altough I tend not to use the term "Christian", I am one. I usually just say "believer". I didn't comment directly on the lyric, because my main interest is the music - and, yes, I considered this tune a filler tune, not because of the lyric, but because of the tune. But if you read all the way through yesterday, I gave myself permission to allow all the tunes to grow on me.

Now to the point of the e-mailer's question. I consider myself a patriot, but nowhere close to the way it's being described by George Bush or the Christian community. In fact, I believe any Christian who supports the current efforts in Iraq is, indeed, a hypocrite. There was absolutely no reason for us to ever get involved in the internal politics of Iraq in 2001 or 2002 and beyond. You'll find Cheney & his crowd were trying to get Clinton involved in Iraqui politics way back in 1997 & 98.

The only reason that people try to believe that almost makes sense to them is the popular held belief in the demonization of Saddam Hussein. One could, within several seconds using the internet, discover 30-40 world leaders that are much worse than Saddam Hussein - one could even include George Bush in that equation because he used his military to attack a country without any provocation at all. And not a neighboring country, but one on the other side of the world. (Can you even imagine the names he would start throwing around if China decided to attack Brazil? )

There was no evidence either before or after Bush's choice to involve our military that anything he was saying was true. Just because he said it a lot, and said it a lot more, did not make anything he said true. During that time, there's no doubt in my mind he knew he was lying - he was directly quoting words that were available on the internet from Paul Wofowitz some 4-5 years earlier. Thus, there's no doubt in my mind he is a hypocrite - because he claims from time to time to be a Christian, yet he's willing to openly lie about something so serious it will costs many many human lives.

As a believer, I tend to trust more in the words of Jesus - love your enemies - turn the other cheek, etc etc. You know how many dead Muslims there are who will never get the chance to hear the simple truths of Jesus because we dropped bombs on them instead of sharing the good news? Here's one you'll never know or believe until you explore the CIA web site (both past and present) for Iraq - do you know how many Christian churches there were under Saddam Hussein's rulership? (many). Do you know how many are left there today? (zero). If you claim to be a Christian, you should know the answers to these questions - it's easy to find out. You can also find out how many Christians were in the upper levels of Saddam Hussein's government (many), and how many there will be under the United State's leadership (zero). The answer will surprise you if you haven't explored it already.

How about democracy? How about the right to bear arms against a tyrannical government? Well, let's think this through. Under Saddam Hussein every citizen had the right to bear arms. You know the stockpile of arms the show on the evening news? You know where they came from? Our military has been and will continue to conduct a house to house search for weapons. Under US leadership, a citizen of Iraq no longer has the right to bear arms. If they do they are considered criminals.

Think that through. Under Saddam anyone could bear arms. If they hated him so much, they had the ability amongst themselves to change the government. Did they really want or need us? A few people who could get not illegally get the riches they desired under Saddam, yes. But the masses - no.

There's too much to really discuss. Who built the infrastructure of Iraq the past 5.000 years? Iraquis. So why won't we allow them to re-build without American corporations making a profit along the way?

This is all simply about Iraq, but we can go back, way back before Bush went nuts about Hussein & see he was a hypocrite a long time ago. So are most people who call themselves Christians in the United States. There's an old song we used to sing before Christians went nuts with greed for worldly wealth - "they'll know we are Christians by our love". Show me the love. Most preaching from most pulpits has, within 10 minutes, demonized someone or some concept. Christians are taught to hate from the pulpit. It's sad.

So what Jagger wrote isn't news - it's something we've all known for a long long time. Nobody is keeping Christ out of people's hearts more than Christians. Look at the folks that attend church with you. Would they attract you to learn about the simple gospel of Christ's love? Now turn it in - would anyone believe that you actually trusted and followed the words of Jesus? Or are you simply making excuses for your behavior and the words coming out of your mouth? Just because your pastor said it, does that make it true? Just because James Dobson or some other  "Christian" leader said it - does that make it true? Are you simply believing them because they have clout, or are you believing them because you've followed the words of Acts 17:11? Those words, to put them in the modern vernacular, is "Trust no one without screening their words with the word of God".

I can't be any blunter than saying no nation professing to follow the words of Jesus would ever start an unprovoked war. I personally even have doubts about joining in a provoked war (see world war one for example) - but that's another issue altogether.

Of course, only an idiot would look at the things we export and consider us a spiritual nation. Other nations see what we export  - ask them what they believe of the United States. Ain't hard to find out these days with the internet.

The other line in the song is about patriots. The only patriots I see in Iraq are those who are willing to give their lives for the country they love - the Iraqui people who our press are choosing to call insurgents and terrorists. Very seldom in the press is it recognized that we are the invaders, they are protecting their country from the invaders. No member of our military who is choosing to follow orders in Iraq is a patriot. They are obviously not protecting US soil from Iraquis. Of course, if you take that s off of soil a better picture would emerge.

And for those who haven't heard me in the past - there were no Iraquis on the planes during the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001. No Iraquis!!! Doesn't matter how many times George Bush & his administration has implied it - it will never be true. It won't take you 2 minutes on the internet to unearth the fact that they were Saudi Arabians. If there were free elections in Saudi Arabia even today, there is no doubt that Osama Bin Laden would win. Ever wonder why we haven't asked our Allies to hold free elections - yet we insist that our 'enemies' do?

Enough. I've made my share of enemies today =:-) It always amazes me how mad Christians get when they hear me talk about this. I call them all hypocrites - but that's nothing new. And for anyone that's wondering - yes, I do believe there are believers all over this earth, and some of them even attend the buildings that call themselves churches. Every single one is not a hypocrite - there are many many many whose whole live is centered around sharing the gospel instead of bullets. Amen! For the uninitiated, the word Church comes from "ek-clessia", which means the called-out ones. The ones who are called out from the world and tend to see through the eyes of the spirit rather than the heart of a man. Never perfectly, of course, but constantly in the state of perfecting. And one cannot be in the state of perfecting by denying the words of their Lord and Saviour. Amen? Amen!

I appreciate this album. Everybody that knows me knows I enjoy my music best when an artist takes risks. The Rolling Stones have taken lots of risks over the years, and for the most part have succeeded, whether it be going pop with Ruby Tuesday, going Psychedelic a year later, going Country Rock, going Disco, going back to simple Rock & Roll (but I like it), etc, etc. This album doesn't take risks, but I am still enjoying it. Maybe it's simply old age.

But I figure there's three paths of risks these guys could have taken based on current trends.

One would be to put out a pure rap album - something I'm sure they could do, but I'm glad they didn't.

The second would be to have lots of guest stars a-la Willie Nelson or Santana. It's ironic that my least favorite song by both those artists was when they recorded together. Well, maybe it's a little bit better than when they recorded with Opera stars. Anyway, back to the Stones. The company could have convinced them to do a "duets" album with an opera star, Cheryl Crow, a few rap artists - and my bet is I woulda hated it.

The third thing they coulda done that I woulda hated is the Stones doing American Standards a-la Rod Stewart. Everybody seems to be on this bandwagon these days. Still waiting for Bruce Springsteen to do one. Believe it or not, I thought he did a wonderful job singing a Frank Sinatra song. Who woulda guessed? Back to the Stones...

So, they avoided all the traps of modern marketing and made the best choice - making a Stones album =:-) The good news is that while it's instantly "stones" to the ears, I don't hear too many exact cops from old tunes. I'll start with saying there's 16 tunes here, and every album has a share of filler in 12 cuts, so this one will simply have a few extras. 5 are decent sounding, but nothing special fillers. Not bad. 2 others I consider filler, but deserve special mention because one is a hard-rockin' jam a la star star - Oh No, Not You Again; and the other is a cool rockin' filler - Look What The Cat Dragged In.

Okay, now to the good stuff. Three totally cool start-me-up dance tunes: Driving Too Fast; Dangerous Beauty; and deserving special mention - Rough Justice - pure Stones - a welcome sound!!! You know I'll never break your heart =:-)

Two sweet mood pieces in the vein of Ruby Tuesday or Angie: This Place Is Empty and Streets Of Love. Excellent listens. Another favorite mood piece rocks with a great beat: Rain Fall Down. Near to this on my fave list is Biggest Mistake - old fashioned 60's R&R -love it. Cool lyrics.

The last two I guess are the top two faves in my ears, at least today. I'm sure the album will grow on me and I'll have different faves every day, but what good is a Stones album without one blues? Back Of My Hand fits the bill beautifully - good, old fashioned blues, with feeling (I seen love, I seen misery...). And #1 with a bullet - a great Saint-Like-Me thought provoker: Laugh, I Nearly Died.

So, yes, a worthy investment.

Discovered a popular song from 1960 that my ears had never really paid attention to - "There's Something On Your Mind". What a voice. I figured there would be info on someone this good on the internet, and www.allmusic.com came through. I couldn't find an album to search for, but since his death there have been several compilations of his singles. I'll try my best to track them down, but it's difficult for me to want to dig too deeply for someone who hit my ears as close to James Carr & Otis Redding and then find out 20 years later he was trying to make it with a tune called "Disco Rabbit". Not that I've anything against novelties - all for them. But where's the rest of the classics? His run with Huey Smith may have put his voice on record, but he's not truly featured, because those were ensemble pieces.

So, what is this about? Well, I'm reflecting how I go seeking for the lifework of a vocalist or artist when I hear something wonderful. I'm trying to decide if this is a good thing? It's a hobby, I guess - but why can't I simply be satisfied with listening to "There's Something On Your Mind" over and over? I definitely have no problem listening to it.

I think I can sorta answer the question. Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye & James Carr are good examples - they had a few hits - but they have albums full of gems that never hit the airwaves & I just love listening to the albums over and over. I guess there's a part of me that feels we miss out on some really great art if we simply settle for what the radio stations and TV stations decide we are supposed to listen to.

I fould 3 Marchan collections that are still in print - guess I'll keep doing research. I'm listening to Huey Smith as I type, and sure - it's fun - but the vocal quality I love in "There's Something On Your Mind" simply isn't there. Ah-ha-ha-ha-hey-ey-Oh! Guess I have to give in and go with the humor =:-) Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho- don't you know Yockomo!

Found a photo of me holding this album in High School. I did some reseach - it was available on CD in 1994, but it's now OOP. I'd completely forgotten about this group (Neon Philharmonic), but they did have a special place in my heart - I listened back to the little blips available on amazon.com & yes - a true psychedelic experience this used to be. I remember playing the tune Cowboy a lot, for whatever reason - probably because of the incongruity of cowboys and psychedelic harpsichords with electic guitars flowering into my lovely ears. A special thanks to InThe80s for sending me the single, which I didn't even know existed. Apparently these guys managed a hit with the song "Morning Girl". Sure would like to find the whole CD.

Been a great week, my blog. Met some of the kids & parents & all the teachers I'll be working with & I'm excited. The teachers are excited, the kids & parents are excited & it rubs off. Three of the teachers I'll be working with are the same, and two are new for me to work with. The air feels good between all of us, so I'm hoping for a very good year for the children. I want our kids in there with other kids, experiencing the same opportunities as those around them, along with the opportunity to build skills they need to succeed in small group situations. I'm feeling the same enthusiasm for team teaching and small group involvemnet from the other teachers, which makes me feel this will be a much better year than last educationally for the students I work with.

Saw a movie called "The Upside Of Rage". The characters were convincing - too convincing. Hit real close to home. Don't think I learned anything real from it, but it did get me depressed, as usual, about the reality of my home life. The movie, of course, found a way to have a happy ending within 3 years. Real life isn't that simple. We're on upwards of 24 years together, and still nothing that feels like it's going to reach that point of acceptance. But skipping the ending, the main character gave a truly scary impression of my wife. None of my kids ever had the guts to strike back the way the kids in the movie do; but the movie did help me see some of what my kids were/are probably thinking about life and themselves as a result of living intimately with anger day-in and day out. Most of the time when they were growing up I was also angry about my spouse being angry - I definitely was nowhere near as compassionate as the male character (Kevin Costner) in the story. I was much more confused - heck, let's face it, I still am. So, the movie hit a lotta nerves - probably mostly just makes me depressed; but to me that shows the powerful acting that happened.

Did what I could on my Billboard project this summer. My big plan was to listen to and sort all the Billboard songs from 1953 - 2004. Well, didn't happen. But, I did finish 1953-1968 - 8,650 songs filling up 5 DVDs!!! If I had to pick a favorite, I'd have to choose 1966, 67 & 68. Luckily I don't have to pick a favorite, because I like lotsa other songs from other years. This week, since I went back to work, I can only work 1/2 a day or so on the project, so I've barely made a dent into 1969. But, if I do a year a month, I shoudl finish the 70's by next summer. I've split the songs so far in 4 categories - Pop (3 DVDs 1953-1968), Easy Listening 1 DVD, Oddio & C & W on a 5th DVD. What interests me the most is the C&W songs. I'm guessing there was a country chart & these were only the "crossover" hits - because I know there were many many better C&W songs that aren't included in this collection - plus, many of these "C&W" are not true C&W artists (Dean Martin, Tom Jones) but the arrangements are C&W. A few are - Buck Owens and Roger Miller are good examples. But my favorites are the Acid Rock & Soul songs that I shoved into a catch-all category "pop", probably best described as the hits purchased by teenagers =:-) The other category, "Oddio" are those songs which sold well, but I really wouldn't want to hear them except on special occasions of my own choosing - like the hits of Mrs Miller, and stray songs like The Ballad of the Green Berets.

Other music news in my life today - I met a guy on ebay who shares my enthusiasm for the artistry of Tiny Tim. From him I learned of some Tiny Tim CDs that I had no idea existed - the most intriguing one being Tiny Tim Unplugged! Who knew? Something new to look forward to hearing!!

Finished the FDR book & have decided not to write much more about it. It was interesting in some places, and boring in other places. I'm not sorry I read it - I learned a lot about 100 years ago that surprised me; but I'm not too keen to delve deeper at this point.

Lotsa political stuff going on these days - kinda expecting WWIII to break out any day now. Seems we can't help but make the world angry at our agressive greed.

I've been trying to track down a copy of this album so I can can hear The Pause Of Mr Clause. The complete lyrics are posted on-line, but it's not the same experience. My copy was covered with mold after a flood, and Carey, dear heart that he was, washed it for me (along with hundreds of others), and put it out in the sun to dry. That was years ago, and I'm over the trauma, but once in awhile I want to hear some things during my summer Christmas party.

Anyway, in my search for the album today I ran across this most interesting link - Arlo's court testimony during the Chicago 7 trial - this shoulda been filmed:

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Chicago7/Guthrie.html

Haven't posted for a few days because I've been reading. I found a copy of the book mentioned by Hank Beukema in his letter below about FDR. I found the book for $4.00 and have been devouring it - kinda scary to learn in detail what the US of the early century was like. Wasn't much different than the US of the early part of this century; but much different than the US of the 1960's that I grew up in. It's quite obvious to me I woulda been in jail if I were living then simply because of my belief that war should be the final option. The writer makes it clear that Wilson was duped into a lot of things by the European leaders. I haven't finished the book yet, but it is definitely fascinating when it talks about the events going on around FDR. However, the parts about FDR himself can get somewhat boring because of the tremendous detail.

Anyway, the reason I'm posting today is a received a mass e-mail from Ben Rehder, and he's got a new book coming out. He's always a fun read & I recommend his work to anyone who simply wants to enjoy their reading experience. Comparing writers is always dangerous because people get the wrong idea; but the closest I can think of is Janet Evanovich. Sure, her last few have been way over the top and we've stopped caring who Stephanie Plum is gettting wet over - which is why it's dangerous to compare. Suffice it to say, Ben Rehder serves up the Texas Hills with a good taste of the wierd fun that people up here like to have. I'm hoping his new book continues in this vein. He's posted a sample chapter on-line: http://www.benrehder.com/

To sample his prose, here's a snippet from his mass mailing:
"And for those of you who don't know, audio versions of BUCK FEVER, BONE DRY, and FLAT CRAZY are available from Recorded Books (http://www.recordedbooks.com/). Listen to them in your car and watch your passengers hurl themselves from your speeding vehicle. Which means a lighter car. Which means you'll save gas. Everybody wins!"

I enjoyed the story because it was a page turning adventure & I missed the characters when the story was over. I'd consider this a just-for-fun story because it really didn't challenge my thinking. However, the writing was well done because the sci-fi portion of sending a mental memory of you off to another part of the galaxy in a probe wasn't a big leap - worked fine in the context of the story.

The People Of Sand And Slag by Paolo Bacigalupi, on the other hand, was a total waste of time. The plot was too slim to hold my interest; but a person who loves having animals hanging around a house might enjoy the story. Guess if I were in a proper mood I might do a bit of thinking about some of the moral questions brought up.

The Third Part by David Moles (Year's Best SciFi) is intriguing in that it starts off as Romeo & Juliet, morphs into James Bond, and ends up as Ace Ventura with a touch of bi-lateral history. In the end, it's simply too much and not enough. I learned nothing and felt nothing by the end. It almost feels like it's the start of something bigger instead of a true short story. Romeo ends up either back in the world, or on a spaceship - or most likely both in a bi-lateral universe. And, so what? Juliet may or may not end up aiding and abbetting Romeo's "enemy", but who cares?

The Voluntary State by Christopher Rowe (Year's Best SciFi) is a prose comic book without pictures. Enjoyed reading the settings & animation type situations; but the story had nothing to anchor on to fulfill me as a reader.

Going to a teacher conference for the next week. Hate these things - sitting in class 8 hours a day. Only one good thing I can see about these things is it shows how truly bored a student (myself) can be going to class & it keeps me motivated to never treat my students in such a poor manner that they will definitely be bored all week long. These things keep me thinking of ways to keep the class hopping & joyful (and awake).

From: Hank Beukema
Subject: The New Century

I have found a startling passage in a book I'm reading and want to share it with you:

"He felt the sense of human effects of the enormous and constantly accelerating release of usable energy resulting from the evolving scientific technology of the new century. Virtually every major premise, every cherished human value, every certainty of that old century whose child the man felt himself to be, had been destroyed by the end of the century, and nothing had been put in their places that could give a comparable feeling of security and direction in an amiable, reasonable world. The world was no longer amiable OR reasonable. Power had gone out of control. An anarchy of stupendous forces raged through the city of man. And of all this, of all this, the New York City skyline as seen from the deck of a ship entering the harbor had seemed symbolic. "The outline of the city became frantic..." he wrote, "The cylinder had exploded, and thrown great masses of stone andsteam against the sky."

This is from the 1972 book FDR: The Beckoning of Destiny and was from the 1904 writings of Henry Adams...... Unbelievable,,,,, This is why I love reading, and the blues, and poetry, and this group......: It's all happened before......... and somebody else knows how You feel...... Hank

See more of my writing at:
http://www.mytown.ca/beukema/

Another excellent story. The plot is an old one - when someone you love decides to take a different turn and grow in a different way than you choose, what do you do? Story is well written and presents a different view of the world 30 years from now - but despite the sociological differences, the emotional issues remain. A worthy read - one I would definitely recommend to high school English teachers because of the discussions it could elicit.

We all have to make our own mistakes, I know - but I'm betting if I had a story like this to reflect on with good discussions with my peers I would have made the same mistake less often in this life, thus hurting fewer people along the way. At least I would hope that would have been true.

On a similar note I received the strangest phone call of my life this morning. I was working with several special ed kids when a voice came over the intercom - "Mr Soos, call your wife as soon as possible." Of course I replied, "What do you want me to call her?" The answer I got back was "Mrs Soos".

So I found a phone and called her. She asked if I could be home at noon becuase my dad was getting married. "My dad is what?" Sheesh. I'm 50 - that makes my dad something like 74. Do 74 year olds get marrried without warning? Apparently so. It worked out, the school counselor covered for me, I got to the church on time, and yes - my dad got married to someone I've never met or even heard of. Turns out she's a delightful woman, and I'm sure my dad will be very happy. But what a shock =:-) Nothing better than a good shock to the system from time to time!

The story theme fits because one has to make a choice when someone you love chooses a life track different than you expect. Should you shun them, or love them for who they are? I've seen many grown-ups act like 9 year old children and shun their wives, parents, siblings, etc. I've made the same stupid mistake more times than I'm willing to try to count. But this time I made the right decision, I think. I accepted my dad's wishes and wish him only the best =:-)

Good story, good day.

This is the 1st story in the 22nd "Year's Best Science Fiction" anthology. This one is a winner for me, perhaps because of my position as a special ed teacher. I've met all these characters, and have the same feelings for them as the author. NT's are "neurotypicals", the teachers who think all kids should act the same; and in the current Bush climate of NCLBA, all kids should achieve at the same time and at the same level. And they're not kidding when they say ALL. The powers that be feel that even special ed children who are mentally retarded whether because of brain damage or a genetic difference (like an extra 22nd chromosome) should achieve at exactly the same level and timing as the regular ed kids. That's not what this story is about, but it brings up all the issues of the NT's and the fact that they do not listen to anyone but themselves.

The main character in the book has been diagnosed. "All the doctors put their own names on my condition. High-functioning autism, one doctor called it. Asperger's Syndrome, said another. Another one said I was PDD, which stands for Pervasive Developmental Disorders. The first doctor said that wasn't really a diagnosis, it was just a label." Sounds funny, but it's all too typical. Very few of my students, aside from the ones with Down's Syndrome, have a specific diagnosis that more than one psychologist agrees with.

The main character is one of those brilliant thinkers that no one can get along with. This type of student can pass the state mandated tests with 100% score, if they were alllowed to bend the rules a little and try approaching the problem from a different perspective; but the rules are set for EVERYONE for what is considered "equality" purposes. So, these brilliant thinkers are simply forced into failing an otherwise simple exam for them.

I enjoyed the entire story. I know way too many people who are exactly like Dr Rhodes. But what really got me excited was the ending, which I won't give away. Suffice it to say is it gives me the willies, and had me wondering just how NT I really am even if I don't want to be. Am I a Dr Rhodes in some circumstances? Can some forms of physical restraints be deemed "okay" if it is a path acceptable to a young child? Should a young child be allowed to make such decisions, even of they have parents that agree? No easy answers to these questions - which makes it a great read because the story left me with many things to think about.

Guess I shoulda guessed something would pop up that would disgust me. This is from this morning's newspapers: John Roberts "was part of a three-judge panel that ruled last week that controversial military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba could go ahead."

My feelings about the military holding people without charge for several years has already been expressed many times. Anyone who supports this clearly illegal activity if it happened in the United States, buts says it's okay simply because it's on foreign soil or on an American ship at sea is a dirtbag in my estimation.

Well, I'm back. Been in some sort of doldrum state lately. with a bad writing attitude, Since I don't want my personal diary to be a book of complaints, I've avoided saying anything for awhile. It's kinda nonsensical to complain about things you can' t change anyway, like the government.

Anyway, in my last posting, more than two weeks ago I made a bold statement: "
Unless Bush makes a huge error in his usual judgement, I doubt if he'll pick anyone with true integrity to sit on the supreme court." Well, these words came back to hit me tonight. And I'm glad. In my defense, I did say, "My hope is of course that Bush will rise to the occassion and choose a person of wisdom to be on the court", but I had little real hope for that.

I'm sure some sorta dirt will be brought up by political folks, but this guy seems seriously to be a person of character, so I expect good things from him. I know his views on Roe vrs Wade will play big during the hearing; but there's no way a person should be held to account on one issue when his job description will cover multitudes of issues. What I can figure from what he's said about the issue publically is that he will uphold the law as it stands, even though he disagrees with the way it became law; and that his theory on our constitution is that congress should pass laws, not the courts.

Well, that is truly what the constitution says, so, hey, why not? So he's a strict constitutionalist - can't hold that against anybody. If you think that through, it means his personal opinion on matters brought before him will not make him decide to change the law during court time - that should be left to congress. If he can hold that belief to it's final processing then he can do no real harm on the bench.

I'd be personally interested in how he would have voted on the eminent domain issue that still bugs me. Also, small things, like the President declaring war instead of Congress. But those honest questions will probably never be brought up, so we'll never know. Good news is I don't feel uncomfortable with the nomination.

The only downside I see to John G. Roberts Jr. is that he seems to have spent a good portion of his career in Washington, DC and mixed up with politics a good portion of that time. I know, a guy has to work somewhere; but it seems like having someone who has actually had to deal with real, honest working people in the real America would have been cool. That's my only concern, and I admit it's a minor concern. So, Bush is on my happy list until I read about another soldier killed for his crusade to democraticize the world, which I unfortunately think will happen sometime in the next 24 hours.

Tonight we studied Chapter 25 in Genesis. Esau and Jacob, what a pair. In Malachi God mentions in passing, Jacob I loved, Esau I hated. I love what Spurgeon told the woman that said she couldn't understand how God, who we call love, could hate Esau. His reply was so true: "I don't have any problem with that, my problem is how could God have loved Jacob!" Jacob is quite a character, and well worth the time to reflect on. He is a believer in the same way most of us are believers - always trying to help God out =:-)

In Chapter 25 we see Abraham's death, so the homework was to reflect on Abraham's life as a person of faith and consider his stumblings and see which part of Abraham's path we personally fit on. No one could truthfully say they had reached the faith of Abraham in Chapter 22. I'm betting that after we study Jacob that most of us will feel comfortable identifying with him =:-) He's definitely not one we could call "perfect", although we can sort of almost see him "perfecting" - maybe not as clearly as we see Abraham, but he earned his stripes enough to be called a person of faith in Hebrews 11. Should be a fun few weeks - will go by kind of fast compared to Abraham, whom we've studied for 6 months.

Started reading a new book that popped in today - read the introduction this afternoon: "The Year's Best Science Fiction - 22nd Annual Collection" edited by Gardner Dozois. I've been away from Science Fiction for a few years, and delving into some of the classics made me wonder which current writers are worth reading. Sometimes the best place to discover that is in these anthologies - after all, that's where Asimov & all those folks first became recognized outside the small circle of readership of sci-fi mags.

What intrigues me the most so far is how far I've been "away". Very close to 1/2 of the selections in this book are seeing "print" for the first time because their original "publication" was on-line in a science fiction webzine. That's amazing, even to me, and I shouldn't be - because early on I was an advocate of on-line publishing. Turned out not to work too well for me personally, because I couldn't think of a way to generate an income, and simply spending time editing and giving it away was cool; but I went cold turkey from print to on-line. Our readership grew fast and furious - that was a great ego-boost, but I lacked the knowledge of how to turn that readership into an income. Losing the income from the print magazine meant I had to take on a real job, thus became a teacher.

Point is, I'm glad to see that on-line publishing does have some true status - the next thing will be to actually read these stories and see of the writing holds up enough to convince me to keep an eye on these writers. I think that's my next blog project - to report on these stories as I read them

Of course, I planned to do that with Leaves Of Grass, which I actually did sit and read in one sitting. The "problem" is I read it while traveling, and while I thought I'd write about it when I came back, I keep reading other stuff and experiencing other things, and I don't feel the need to re-hash everything I thought while reading, tho I kept lots of notes =:-)

The one thing I did think about a lot and discussed with several people was the thought that Whitman has had a much bigger impact on my life than I ever realized. I read the paperback version that I had a lot as a young dude. I picked it up in 1971, and never looked back - I kept it near me for several years, reading parts of it over and over. Not to memorize it, but to absorb it. Let's face it, Whitman makes writing look a lot easier than it is.

I didn't consciously try to absorb his philosopy; but I can see now it seeped in. His love of people and belief that every trade is worthy of praise has crept into my understanding of Christianity, and may explain why my take on Christianity is so much different from the popular TV preachers. I don't see going to a building to watch some guy in a tie spout off for 45 minutes as being very spiritual, or uplifting at all. I can see why TV preachers would hate Whitman, and would go out of their way to demonize him like they do everything else. What's funny about that is Whitman, at one point, talked about the sermon as something worthy of one's time to absorb. The only thing I can figger is he ran into a better brand of preacher once than we have nowadays =:-)

Point is, tho I can see why modern Christians would shun him, I think I have allowed my early reading to influence the type of thinking I do today when I teach the Bible. The big question is, of course, is this a bad thing or a good thing?

I do feel that Whitman would be much like myself in that I have a hard time identifying with Christians and Christianity because the truth is what I've experienced is mostly culture and Churchianity. It's very difficult to want to label myself in such a way that anyone would feel I identify with some of the mularky that comes out of their mouths. It's going to happen anyway, since people like the concept of wrapping things in neat little boxes - can't help the world and won't convince them to start thinking independently any time soon. Where is this rambling going? Oh, I remember - I have decided that the seemingly "non-Christian" Whitman (as a modern "believer" would label him) acted more like Christ than any modern "Christian" I've met.

Oh, not to worry. I know there's other followers of Jesus Christ out there who believe that love is what He was teaching. Just seems to not be as many of them as one would hope.

Guess I feel like a dreamer. I really thought the supreme court was going to try it's best to wait out the final years of Bush. As much as I disliked Reagan's foreign policy and secret wars; I really liked some of his domestic ideas (not all - obviously I would dislike his union busting policies, etc). And he made a wise decision with Sandra Day O'Connor. She wrote the dissenting opinion for the stupid decision made by the Supreme Court about eminent domain a few days back. I have respect for her wisdom.

Unless Bush makes a huge error in his usual judgement, I doubt if he'll pick anyone with true integrity to sit on the supreme court. Hopefully the senate will be able to keep his radicalism out of the supreme court; but since there seems to be so little public discussion in the senate about how radically the country has changed because of Bush, I feel like they're all asleep, and I'm just a dreamer along with them.

I don't know. My hope is of course that Bush will rise to the occassion and choose a person of wisdom to be on the court. But when I look at his choices for his cabinet and advisors, it just seems hopeless.

I'm still angry about the eminent domain decision that was the theme of my last post. I don't really want to post about something while I'm angry; but where does that leave me? I seem to be angry a lot - so I'd really have nothing to post about. I seem to post only when something really upsets me.

That ideal doesn't seem to answer to my original purpose - to be able to look back and see where me head is at, and how it got there. Of course to do that, this should be more like a diary than a diatribe about political stuff that I have no possibility of influencing anyway. I know a bit over 1/2 of the country agrees about Bush, and even Sandra Day O'Connor, whom I sorta praised above, thought he should be given the opportunity to rule the roost for awhile. Her retirement could very well mean she doesn't feel she made a mistake when she gave him the nod.

Anyway, today we finished our Serengeti Trek. The credo was simple: Know God, Talk To God, Tell About God, Love God, and today: Work For God. Well, my take on working for God is pretty well known in these parts - I choose to believe in what Jesus said when asked what God requires of men in regards to work: "Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. John 6:29." Of course, I used a modern translation for the kids, but it conveyed the same meaning, this time. (Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent. -NKJV)

I had the opportunity for a brief 25 minutes in the morning to tell the kids NOT to listen to anyone who tried to convince them that Got had something they were "supposed" to do for God. Jesus made it quite clear all need to do to keep God happy with us is to believe (see also 1 John 5). Well, lo and behold the kids had to visit 5 other classes today. The outside fun stuff was run by a cool guy whom I trust with God's word. But there's no way to control everyone - even Bush has learned that lesson =:-) So the kids heard from the other 4 teachers things they were "supposed to do". By the "Main Event" (last meeting) they were totally confused.

I don't regret doing what I did - I'd rather have a confused kid who goes home and asks questions than a kid totally brainwashed into thinking God has unreasonable expectations of them and no longer wants them to be a child. I made all those mistakes as a young parent - not pretty. Can really turn kids off of God completely if they feel his expectations are for us to be perfect little robots.

I think the worst example of legalism I heard was from a teacher who said: "It's not enough that you ask Jesus into your life. If that's all you do, then you've made a big mistake. You have to go tell the Pastor or myself or some other adult so we can tell you what else you need to do." Arrrggghhhh. It's a mantra, of course: 'Let's do something for God'. Yep, like God really needs our help.

Like I told the kids, Jesus said that in the Bible shortly after he walked on the water - and explained that the faith we have is really no faith at all. Only the faith he gives us is faith he recognizes. We don't do anything to deserve, nor do we do anything to keep it. Sure, as we walk in faith, we learn more and more about how much more faith we've been given than we realized - but we didn't earn that faith - it was already there, we simply don't utilize it. The lesson of Abraham.

Anyway, I was a good boy and didn't interrupt the legalists (funny, it seems to me, but they're also supporters of George Bush - wonder if that means anything?). My take on life is that my insisting that Jesus was right and the legalists are wrong is just as bad as being a legalist. Let the kids hear both versions - the Bible version and the "churchified" version. They'll grow knowing there are choices, which is good. To only hear one or the other without being given the opportunity to think for oneself will create an incomplete person who is unable to reach God on a personal level.

We all have to experience the truth that Jesus was right, and "churchified" traditions are neither historically correct, nor biblically correct. It simply takes a lifetime to keep that understanding growing deeper and deeper. I love the way Jesus set it up so I can grow more and more in the knowledge of him each and every day, and that knowledge helps me understand myself and my own motivations better.

Meandered all over the map with this entry, so I feel great. Time to snooze.